Furnace



3 Sheets-Sheet L V M KAY I FURNACE Original Filed August 30 March 161926.

March 16 1926. 1,577,407

v. M GKAY FURNACE Original Filed August 3O 1915 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March16 V. M KAY FURNACE 1915 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original Filed August 30,

r Izwerafior Patented Mar. 16 1926.

UNITED STATES 1,577,407 PATENT OFFICE.

. VASIL MACKA Y, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO N EEMES FOUNDRY,INC.,

0F TROY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

FURNACE.

Application filed August 30, 1915, Serial No. 47,947. Renewed May 26,1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VASIL MACKAY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented new and useful Improvements in Furnaces, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in furnaces and more particularlyto furnaces constructed and arranged to automatically feed fuellengthwise of the grate thereof and to maintain the fuel thereon in alayer of substantially uniform depth throughout.

The object of the invention is to provide simple operating meanstherefor whereby the several sections of the grate may be positivelyoperated both forwardly and rearwardly by mechanically operable means,or said grate sections may be manually operated as stated.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means forbreaking up the clinkers which may form upon said grate and in dumpingthe clinkers and ashes therefrom.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a grate whichpermits the burning of coke breeze or screenings without causingclinkers to form upon said grate and choke the same and at the same timesaid grate is constructed and arranged to consume substantially all ofthe heat units in the fuel before the same are allowed to escape fromthe furnace.

Again the object of the invention is to provide means for facilitatingthe cleaning of the portion of the furnace at the rear of the bridgewall and in removing the cleanings therefrom.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide an inexpensive durablelining for the front wall of the furnace.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts setforth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in theclaims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a furnace embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section, partly in elevation, of the furnace,portions of said furnace being broken away to save space in thedrawings.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the grate.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the clutch whereby the mechanical or manualinstrumentalithe grate being removed to save space in the drawings.

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of the front wall of the furnaceillustrating the means for protecting the outer or front plate of theboiler from the heat within.

Fig. 9 is a detail side elevation of a modified form of side member forthe grate sections. I

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of thedrawings.

In the drawings, 10 is a boiler, 11 the combustion chamber and 12 theash pit of a furnace embodying my invention. Within said combustionchamber 11 is located a grate 13 preferably formed in two sections 14and 15, each of said sections of grate consisting of a plurality ofpivoted grate bars each arranged to swing about a horizontal axisextending transversely of said furnace. Said axis is arranged parallelwith and adjacent to the rear edge of the grate bar. The fuel supportingsurface of the grate is made up of the inclined series of oscillatorygrate sections 14 and 15, said series sloping .downwardly at a certainpredetermined angle from the front toward the rear of the furnace, thatis to say, from the dead plate at the front of the furnace to the bridgewall 21, as clearly shown in Figure 2 of the drawings.

The several grate bars which constitute said grate are substantially inthe form of sectors in cross section and arranged to swing about theaxes thereof consisting of trunnions 17 arranged at opposite ends ofsaid bars. The trunnions 17 are pivotally arranged in sockets 18 formedin the side members 19 of the grate frame, said side members extendingfrom the front 20 of said furnace substantially to the bridge wall 21thereof, or at least to a support 22 extending forwardly from saidbridge wall. The forward edges 23 0f the grate bars 16 are formedsubstantially concentric with the axis of said bars.

The upper faces 24 of the grate bars 16 are preferably flat and areadapted to align, when in their lowermost positions, with the upperfaces of the side members 19 of said grate. Plates 25 are arrangedlengthwise of the side members 19 over said trunnions 17 for the purposeof retaining said trunnions within their respective sockets and toprevent ashes and fuel from working into the same. Slots 26 extend fromthe upper faces 24 of said grate bars downwardly entirely through saidgratebars and constitute draft slots, the number and size of which maybe varied according to the grade of fuel to be used and the amount ofdraft provided. The rear sides 27 of the grate bars 16 are curvedsubstantially following an arc whose center coincides with the axis ofthe grate bar, permitting said bars to be swung about their axes withoutinterfering or contacting with the curved faces of the adjacent gratebar of the series.

The several grate bars which constitute said grate are arranged in setspreferably for best results with the first, third, fifth and seventhgrate bars being connected to gether as one set and the bars alternatingwith the ones mentioned constituting the other set, the same arrangementbeing carried out with a grate of greater or less length.- With thisarrangement the first set of bars may be elevated while the second setremains fiat so that any fuel which may have been deposited upon theupper faces of said first set will be dumped upon the next bar in theseries, then as said first set returns to its fiat position, the secondset will be elevated and so pass the fuel along from one to the otherthe entire length of the grate. The further rising of the grates beyondthe lower end of the apron is set and fixed at the pivoted point of thearm and link. The circumference and face of the pivoted rear ends of thetrunnions are free to move without any interlocking.

Means are provided for operating the two sets of grate bars eithermechanically or manually. With the mechanical instrumentalities acontinuous feeding of the fuel from the forward end of the grate to therear end thereof will be possible just as long as a supply of fuel ismaintained at the forward end of said grate. The manual operable meansfor said grate bars are provided in case it is desirable to feed thefuel upon one section of the grate faster or slower than that of theother section in order to regulate the fire just the desired amount.

The instrumentalitiesfor operating said sets of grate bars consist ofdepending arms ent installations.

28 arranged slightly in front of the axes of the grate bars, the arms ofsaid first set being connected together by a link 29, while the arms ofthe second set are connected together by a link 30, thus insuring asimultaneous movement of all of the bars of the same set. A rod 31 isoperatively connected with each of the sets of grate bars, said rod 31having a bifurcated end 32, the furcations 33 and 34 being arrangedparallel with each other and having formed upon the inner opposite facesthereof a series of teeth 35 and 36 respectively. .The arms 28 arelonger than the radius of the arc of the grate sections and theirpositions transversely of the grate may be changed to suit difler- Thesearms are set and connected in angular position in order to raise thegrate high to feed the fuel satisfactorily.

A shaft 37 is journaled to rotate in bearings formed at the sides ofsaid. furnace,

said shaft extending transversely of said furnace between the furcations33 and 34 of said rods. A mutilated gear 38 is mounted upon said shaft.The teeth of said gear are ada ted to alternately engage the two seriesof teeth 35 and 36 whereby said rods will be positively reciprocated inopposite directions to transmit motion to the grate bar operativelyconnected therewith. Each set of grate bars is operated in the samemanner, but at different times, as hercinbefore stated, the gear whichoperates one set being preferably positioned with respect to the gearwhich operates the other set of grate bars so-that when said first setis moving upwardly the other set is moving downwardly to its lowermostposition and vice versa.

The two sections 14 and 15 of the grate 13 are connected with theiroperating instrumentalities in such a way that one section thereof maybe operated and the other remain stationary, or both may be operatedsimultaneously and from the same shaft. Furthermore the two series ofgrate bars which constitute each of said sets may be operated as abovedescribed, or either one or both of said series may be disconnected fromthe operating instrumentalities.

To accomplish this result the multilated gears 38, 38 for one section ofthe grate are independently rotatably mounted upon the shaft 37 betweenpositioning collars 39 and upon the front wall 46 of the furnace andengages an annular groove 47 in each of the clutch members 41 and 41'whereby the teeth 42 of said clutch members may be thrown into and outof engagement with the teeth 43 of said gears. To operate the grate barsets by hand, each of said rods 31 is provided with a hand lever 48pivotally connected at 49 with the outer end of one of the furcations ofsaid link, which furcation projects through the front wall 46 .of saidfurnace. The hand levers 48 are pivoted at 50 to lugs 51 formed upon thefront wall 46 of said furnace. Stops 52 engage said hand levers for thepurpose of limiting the rearward movements thereof to prevent thefeeding sections of the grate from dumping the fire.

Each of the grate sections is provided at the rear of the oscillatorysets of grate bars, or in other words, the fuel feeding grate bars, withan independent set of grate bars 53, said set consisting preferably oftwo grate bars somewhat wider than the grate bars 16 and preferablypivotally arranged to swing about axes extending transversely of thefurnace, but adjacent to the forward edges of said grate bars 53. Thesegrate bars are pivotally mounted and constructed substantially in thesame manner as are the bars 16 and provided with depending arms 54 whichare connected together by a link 55. The two grate bars forming said set53 extend from the last grate bar of the fuel feeding set to a shelf 56mounted upon the bridge wall 21 at the rear of the fire pot of thefurnace. These grate bars furthermore constitute means for breaking upclinkers which may have formed at the rear of the grate 13 andfurthermore said last named grate bars are adapted to be operated todump the cinders and ashes from the grate into the ash pit.

To accomplish these results said grate bars 53 are arranged to be rockedboth upwardly and downwardly by means of a hand lever 57 pivoted at 58to the front wall 46 of the furnace, see Fig. 7. The hand lever 57 isconnected by means of a rod 59 which extends from said lever through anopening 60 in the front wall of said furnace to the link 55 to whichsaid rod 59 is pivotally secured. A removable stop 61 mounted uponsaidfront wall 46 is constructed and arranged to engage the hand lever57 for the purpose of maintaining the upper face 62 of the dumping gratebars 53 in alignment with the upper faces of the supporting side members19, said stop also preventing the accidental dumping of said grate.

The first grate bar 16 of the grate 13 is arranged in close proximity tothe fuel opening 63 of the furnace so that as the fuel is fed into saidopening it will be deposited upon said first grate bar. The feeding ofsaid fuel is preferably accomplished through a hopper 64, which is'pivotally arran ed over the opening 63 in such a manner t at when it isdesired to feed fuel by hand directly through said opening, said hoppermay be swung outwardly relatively to said opening. A ate 65 is arrangedto slide transversely 0 said hopper in close proximity to the opening 63whereby the feeding of fuel from said hopper may be discontinued at anytime or be increased or diminished. The top of the hopper 64 is cut offsquare at 66. a

Each of the grate sections 14 and 15 is provided with a fuel opening 63and hopper 64, while above the hoppers 64 for said openings a fender 67has been provided which is common to both of said hoppers and directsthe fuel as it is shoveled from the floor of the boiler room into themouths of said hoppers. The front of said fender is open to permit thefuel to be more easily deposited therein. The fender 67 is provided witha bottom 68 which extends across both of the hoppers 64 at the front ofsaid furnace, said bottom being provided with openings 69 which alignrespectively with the mouths of said hoppers to permit the fuel to passfrom said fender thereinto.

Each of the openings 69 is provided with a gate 70 which may be closedwhen it is desired to swing the hopper 64 outwardly from the openings63, thus preventing the fuel which has been deposited in said fenderfrom falling through the opening 69 to the floor at the front of thefurnace.

Another feature of the invention, which has been heretofore referred to,resides in the construction of the front wall thereof and consists of anouter wall or front plate 71 having a lining 72 of fire resistingmaterial formed in sections, as represented by the dotted lines Fig. 1.A layer of asbestos 73 is interposed between the front plate 71 and thesections of fireproof material 72 so as to insure the protection of saidfront plate from the fire around the joints of the sections of material72. The fireproof material 72, asbestos 73 and the front plate 71 areall secured together by screws or bolts 74 which have shouldered ends 75projecting through said front wall and secured thereto by nuts 76. Theinner ends of said bolts 74 are provided with tapered heads 77 whichengage the fire resisting material 72 and firmly hold the same incontact with the asbestos 73 and front plate 71.

Another important feature of this invention resides in the provision forsupplying forced draft and consists in providing an air passage 78preferably extending through the bridge wall 21 from beneath the gratel3 rearwardly through the rear wall 79 of the boiler setting. A blower80 supplies air through a pipe 81 to the passage 78 and into the ash pit12 toward the front end of the grate 13 from whence said air is forcedupwardly through the slots 26 in the rate bars to the combustion chamberof the urnace.

The combination of the instrumentalities for supplying currents of airbeneath the grate toward the front and through the slotted grate barswith a feeding grate, of the type shown, produces a construction wherebythe cheapest kind of fuel may be burned without necessitating therepeated cleaning of the grate and prevents the for ing of clinkersabove the feeding sections of the grate. The currents of air suppliedbeneath and toward the front of said furnace retain the grate barscomparatively cool, while the constant action of grate bars in feedingthe fuel lengthwise of the grate absolutely prevents any formation ofclinkers whereby said grate may be clogged or the efiiciency thereofreduced. Furthermore the constant action of the grate bars maintains thefuel in a somewhat loosened state whereby air from beneath may be forcedtherethrough at any point throughout the length of the grate, thusproviding an exceptionally good draft. \Vith such the case the damper ofthe furnace, which is shown at 82, in the discharge pipe 83 need not befully opened, or opened as wide as would be necessary without the forceddraft. This would permit the supply of fuel, which has been admittedthrough the fuel opening 63 and deposited adjacent to the first sectionof the series of grate bars, to become thoroughly heated and thusliberate the gases therefrom, otherwise known as coking of the fuel,which gases will be entirely consumed as they are slowly conducted overthe fire and through the escape flue 89 and discharge pipe of thefurnace, due to the retarding thereof by the damper 82.

The blower receives its motion preferably from an engine 84 through ashaft 85 and gears 86, said engine 84 being also connected by gearing 87to the shaft 37 whereby said shaft may be operated to in turn operatethe several sets of grate bars. The air passage 78 in addition to havingan opening into the ash pit 12 also has an opening 88 into the escapeflue 89 of the boiler and at the rear of the bridge wall 21.

The walls of the boiler setting surround-.'

ing the opening 88 are tapered inwardly at 90, 90 so as to direct 'allcinders and dust, which are carried by the products of combustion,beyond the bridge wall and which fall before they reach the tubes of theboiler, to the opening 88. A gate 91 is slidably arranged at the bottomof the opening 88 and when desired said gate may be withdrawn and thecinders and soot which have collected thereabove permitted to drop intothe passage 78 into a receptacle 92 mounted upon rollers 94 and arrangedbeneath said opening. The receptacle 92 is adapted to be withdrawnthrough the ash pit and out through the ash door 93, the floor of saidash pit and the bottom of the passage 7 8 being on a level with eachother.

The general operation of the grate is as follows: Fuel is deposited inthe fender 67 and permitted to pass through the openings at the bottomsthereof into the hoppers 64 and onto the grate sections within thefurnace. tuting said grate are operated by means of the mutilated gears38 and cooperating teeth 35 and 36 on the rods 31 which positively raiseand lower the same, thus feeding the fuel from the fuel openings 63 tothe inner end of the grate upon the dumping grate sections 53. Thedumping grate sections 53 are operated at certain intervals of time orwhen necessary to break up the clinkers which form thereabove and todump the same into the ash pit.

To break up the clinkers said grate sections 53 are swung upwardly abouttheir pivots into the positions indicated at a by moving the hand lever57 from the position shown in full lines, Fig. 7, to the position indotted lines marked A and when said clinkers have been made small enoughby the said action to pass between said grates. the stop 61 is removedand said hand lever moved to the position indicated at B, Fig. 7,permitting the grate bars to drop to the dotted positions 1). Vhen it isdesired to operate the grate sections by hand the clutch levers '44 arerocked upon their pivots to disconnect the clutches 41 and 41 from theirrespective gears 38 after which the hand levers 48 may be operated atwill to rock the grate bars 16. The operation of the stoker whenmanipulated by hand is as follows :-lVhen fuel is fed from the hopper oris shoveled to the first grate bars, by opening the door, the verticallyextending operating levers 48 are manipulated, one by one, the fuel isfed from front to rear, the ashes fall into the ash pit, and theclinkers are carried to the rear of the stoker where they are dumped,into the ash pit, by dumping grate sections. On the top of the levers 48may be placed a socket bar of any proportionate length in order torender a good leverage when manipulated by hand.

In the modified form of support for the several grate bars illustratedin Fig. 9 means are provided for adjusting the ends of the several gratebars relatively to each other, said means embodying in its constructionbearing blocks 95 adapted to receive the trunnions 17 of said gratebars.

The bearing blocks 95 are each arranged in recesses 96 formed in theside member 97. Screws 98 are arranged at opposite sides of the bearingblocks and engage the sides 99 of the recesses 96 and as said screws arerotated, the bearing blocks containing the The alternate grate sectionsconsti same will be moved. longitudinally of said side members Withinsaid recesses. A clamping screw 100 having screwthreaded engagement witheach bearing block and engaging a portion of said side member 97 isconstructed and arranged to clamp the bearing block in the preferredlocation thereon after the same has been properly adjusted.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire by LettersPatent to secure is:

1. A furnace having, in combination, a series of feeding grate barspivotally mounted on axes in proximity to one edge, a link operativelyconnected with said grate bars, said link having a bifurcated end, teethupon the inner opposed edges of the furcations of said bifurcated end, ashaft rotatably arranged transversely of said furnace between thefurcations of said link, and gears on said shaft intermediate of thefurcations of each of said links, the teeth of said gears beingconstructed and arranged to alternately mesh with the teeth of saidfurcations to positively control the movement of the grate bars in bothdirections.

2. A furnace having, in combination, a series of feeding grate bars,means constructed and arranged to connect togetherv in separate setsalternate grate bars of said series, a link operatively connected witheach of said sets, each of said links having b a bifurcated end, teethformed upon the inner opposed edges of the furcations of said bifurcatedend, a shaft rotatably arranged between the furcations of said links,mutilated gears on said shaft intermediate of the furcations of each ofsaid links, the teeth of said gears being constructed and arranged toalternately engage the teeth of said furcations to move said links inopposite directions, and a clutch constructed and arranged toindependently connect each of said gears with said shaft.

3. A furnace embodying plural series of fuel feeding grate bars havingplane fuel supporting surfaces across which the fuel may be pushed, thebars of the plural series being alternated and pivotally supported onaxes in proximity to one edge, whereby the upward movement of the barsof either series will push the fuel across the bars of the other serieswith stop devices for arresting the downward movement of the bars withtheir fuel supporting surfaces in substantially a single plane, andassociated, mechanically and manually operated mechanism for rocking therespective series of bars upwardly embodying links connecting the barsof each series, duplicate levers pivotally mounted at the front of thefurnace connecting rods jointedwith the levers at their forward ends andwith the grate bars at their rear ends, opposed gear racks carried bythe connecting rods, and clutch controlled gears adapted to be manuallythrown into and out of mesh with the racks.

4. A furnace embodying plural series of fuel feeding grate bars mountedto swing upwardly on axes in proximity to their rear edges, the barsofone series being alternated with the bars of the other series, meansfor operating the bars of each series upwardlyto feed the fuel onto thebars of the other series and toward the rear of the furnace incombination with means at the back of the furnace for arresting therearward movement of the fuel, a grate bar section located forwardly ofsaid fuel arresting means pivotally mounted on an axis in to one edge toswing downwardly or dumping the fuel, ashes and clinker fed thereon bythe first mentioned grate bars, manual operating means for said lastmentioned grate section, releasable locking means for holding saidsection against downward movement, due to the weight of material fedthereon and manually and mechanically operated mechanisms for actuatingthe grate ars.

5. The combination with alternate series of rocking feeding grate bars,of mechanically and manually operable coacting mechanisms for actuatingthe series of bars, embodying links connecting the bars of each series,duplicate levers pivotally supported forwardly of the bars, connectingrods joined with the levers at their forward ends and with the gratebars at their rear ends, opposed racks associated with the connectingrods, and clutch controlled rotatable gears adapted to be thrown intoand out of mesh with the opposed racks.

6. The combination with alternate series of fuel feeding grate bars, ofmechanically operated mechanism for actuating the series of bars,embodying links connecting the bars of each series, links connected withthe first mentioned links, opposed toothed racks associated with thesecond mentioned links,

roximity rotatable gears for meshing engagement with the racks, andmeans for controlling the gears to render the same passive or my hand.

' VASIL MAOKAY.

